The Gryphon: The Cambridge School of Weston Magazine, Fall 2015 Issue

fall 2015

THE

the cambridge school of weston magazine

Sound Body, Sound Mind Generation Z: Who Are They?

An Ongoing Passion To Do More

2015–2016 board of trustees

2015–2016 parents association leadership

Benjamin Alimansky ’87 Chair, Investment Committee

Ann Gorson P ’16 President

Christine Chamberlain ’63 Chair, Governance Committee

Deb Azrael P ’17 Birthdays for Boarders

Eleni (Lena) Christakis ’16 Boarding Student Representative

Charlotte Peirce P ’18 Birthdays for Boarders

Erika Christakis P ’11, ’13, ’16

Gillan Wang P ’17 Faculty Appreciation

Philip DeNormandie ’67 Rachael Dorr P ’07 Secretary Nina Fialkow P ’10 Anne-Marie Fitzgerald P ’16 Parent Representative Ann Gorson P ’16 Parent Representative Cynthia Harmon Kaiko Marie Hayes ’81 Jin-Kyung (Kay) Kim P ’15, ’16, ’18 Tony Loreti P ’11, ’13 Faculty Representative Richard McCready P ’13 Treasurer; Chair, Finance Committee Jane Moulding Head of School Christian Nolen P ’10 Chair of the Board

Lelia Elliston ’80, P ’18 Contemporary Art Loan Program Lise Gordon P ’14, ’16 Contemporary Art Loan Program Susan Buta P ’17 “PACED” (Parent Association Committee on Equity and Diversity) Karen Gould P ’18 “PACED” (Parent Association Committee on Equity and Diversity) Mary Snow P ’17 Parent Information Coffees To contact the Parents Association please email: pa@csw.org.

the gryphon, fall 2015 Jane Moulding, Head of School Rachel Stoff, Managing Editor / Associate Director of Marketing and Communications Rebecca Schultzberg, Director of Development

contributors Kevin Bowen Jana F. Brown Merissa Collins ’15 Eric Ginsburg ’06 Janne E. Irvine ’66 Eli Keehn Jeannette Lee-Parikh Adam Piore ’88 Anneke Reich ’09 Sarah Sieber ’16 Eduardo Tugendhat ’72

Cover art: Installation done by Hope Cooper ’15 “Metacog”—For Hope’s senior capstone project, her objective was to learn the anatomy of the brain inside and out. Using a laser to cut cross sections of a computer, she created a brain model and then mapped out seven different pathways with LED light—like anxiety, gross motor movement and five more neural pathways.

Deborah Pressman P ’10 Alexander Rosenthal ’08

design

Sarita Shah ’86 Assistant Secretary

Stoltze Design • www.stoltze.com

Simon Taylor ’98 Peter Thorne P ’12 Ingrid Tucker Eduardo Tugendhat ’72, P ’07 Anjali Tyagi Faculty Representative Susan Vogt P ’14 Vice Chair of the Board; Chair, Campaign Steering Committee Noah Wass ’16 Day Student Representative John Welch P ’15 Assistant Treasurer Daniel Wolf ’65

The Cambridge School of Weston is a coeducational college preparatory school for grades 9–12 and postgraduate study. Inquiries for academic year admission should be directed to Trish Saunders, Director of Admissions, at 781.642.8650.

The Gryphon welcomes class notes and photographs by alumni, parents, and friends. Please email submissions to alum@csw.org; call 781.642.8619; visit www.csw.org; or send to: Alumni/ae Relations The Cambridge School of Weston 45 Georgian Road Weston, MA 02493

contact To contact the editor, email: gryphon@csw.org Website: www.csw.org

Fall 2015 Departments 02 03 10 18

Leading Thoughts by Jane Moulding News & Notes Noteworthy Bookshelf: What We’re Reading

26

Creativity@Work

29

Course Spotlight

30 57

CSW By the Numbers My Five

THE

Features

32

Faculty Features: Agnes Voligny & Tad Lawrence

36

From the Desk of . . . Janne E. Irvine ’66

38

Snapshots of Support

40

Sound Body, Sound Mind

46

Coming of Age: Understanding Generation Z

48

The Gryphon in Time

50

Perspective: Athletics the CSW Way

Alumni/ae News

art by

Kate Awalt-Conley ’16

22

Alumni/ae Profiles: Gillian Harper Ice ’86, Hannah Clark Steiman ’98 & Michael Fleming ’81

54

From the Archives: Then & Now

60

Class Notes

63

In Memoriam

64

Save the Dates

66

Alumni/ae Reflections: An Ongoing Passion To Do More

2 • The

Gryphon Fall 2015

Leading Thoughts With an Eye to the World

“We learn about ourselves and we seek the connection and engagement necessary for more understanding and growth.”

—Jane Moulding

i n t h e f o l l ow i n g e xc e r p t from our 2010 Strategic Planning document, it states clearly our hope and vision for global engagement as an integral value within our community.

“Understanding and appreciating global issues is a critical component of being a welleducated citizen of the 21st century. It is at the heart of a socially conscious individual.

As such, CSW should find ways to increase students’ awareness of other cultures, and how our interactions with them can lead to solutions to key international environmental, economic, social, and political issues.”

We promote deep growth in our students as they develop their voices, confidence and opinions. That inner growth is emboldened and nurtured through connections with their own community, their school community and the world outside. Our hope is to find ways to ensure that the world is CSW and CSW is the world.

In this issue of The Gryphon, as always, you will read about the work and lives of many of our graduates. For example, Eduardo Tugendhat ’72 , who has spoken several times to our student body, embodies for me so much of what it means to have a “world view.” His abilities to make cross-cultural connections to aid small economies throughout the world reveal the power of the skills he learned here at The Cambridge School of Weston—listening, making connections, synthesizing and collaborating— all key 21st-century skills that have become increasingly important during the past 10–15 years.

What is powerful is knowing and feeling the strengths of this new generation of students (Generation Z, born 1996–2010, see page 46): the ability to adeptly use many new kinds of technologies to communicate and connect; and a deep empathy with others that allows them to cross socioeconomic, racial and ethnic lines that historically have divided us. Our current students hail from 13 different countries.

At a recent assembly, American and international students engaged together in discussion about events on 9/11 to problem-solve about ways they will make the world a better place.

The power of empathy can never be underestimated. While it aids friendships, family relationships and connections every day, it truly can change the world when it includes a deep effort to understand cultures, traditions, desires and motivations of all the people around us. For example, our partnerships with China—through the Yihai School in Beijing and the Shanghai Theatre Academy—offer real-world, realtime opportunities for engagement. The young students from Yihai International School who stay here as part of our Summer Arts experience become deeply engaged with CSW. The gryphon’s eye looks outward and inward—we learn about ourselves and we seek the connection and engagement necessary for more understanding and growth. Our eyes to the world reveal our commitment to global understanding and individual improvement.

Jane Moulding, Head of School

news & notes • 3

News & Notes

CultureFest participants Summer Ardell ’15 and Awa Diop, languages teacher.

4 • The

Gryphon Fall 2015

39th Annual Social Justice Day: CSW Gets an Immersive Experience in Deafblindness & Other Disabilities Held in late spring, Michael H. Feldman Social Justice Day boosts cultural awareness and inclusivity by hosting an annual allschool event. This year, the day focused on ableism and on people who have various mental and physical disabilities. Working collaboratively with the Diversity Committee and the students participating in InIt (www.ywcaboston.org/init), a youth leadership program, the event was facilitated by LeeAnn Brash, math teacher and faculty advisor for the committee. Workshops were coordinated and led by faculty, staff and students. Some included topics such as audism, adaptive sports and recreation, learning disabilities, mental illness stigma, deafblind immersion, and ableism and allyship.

While it’s quite common to encounter people in wheelchairs, many people have limited acquaintance with others who are blind or deafblind. To have first-hand experience, in a workshop led by Perkins School for the Blind, students wore earplugs and special eye goggles that obscured their vision. They tried to orient themselves to their surroundings and find their chairs without relying on

sight or hearing. The coordinator introduced them to tactile sign language so the students had the chance to try using their fingers to create the letters of the alphabet and common phrases.

Especially exciting was the keynote speaker Maysoon Zayid, founder of Maysoon’s Kids, an education and wellness program for disabled and wounded refugee children. Maysoon was a delegate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, a speaker at TED Women 2013, a 2013 honoree of United Cerebral Palsy of NYC’s Women Who Care Awards, and has been an on-air contributor and columnist. An actress, writer and comedian, she has also appeared in film, performed in clubs and headlined on prominent tours.

Formerly known as Law Day, the annual Michael H. Feldman Social Justice Day serves as a permanent memorial to the late alumnus, who devoted his young life to seeking justice and serving others in need. The Feldman family created the Michael H. Feldman Trust in his memory to help fund programs that celebrate the spirit of the causes he held dear and bring awareness to social justice issues.

news & notes • 5

Grandparents & Special Friends Day Natalie Holtzman and

Last May, grandparents and special friends visited campus. The festive day included class visits with teachers and Jane Moulding, lunch in the dining hall and a CSW experience!

Josh Holtzman ’16

Henry and Frances Pratt, Sara Pratt ’18 and Mary England

Dan Grosshans, Evan Cuthbertson ’17,

Kathy Burke, Sophie Williamson ’18

Hellen Johnson and Maria Grosshans

and Thomas Burke

6 • The

Gryphon Fall 2015

Celebrating CSW’s Cultural Richness A showcase of the many cultures that make up the CSW community, CultureFest made for a special evening last spring.

Students, faculty and staff performed dances, poetry and music, and shared their traditions and personal connections to a wide variety of cultures from around the world. Festive food and libations were a popular part of the evening!

news & notes • 7

Illuminarium Celebrated Spring and Light The annual Illuminarium marked the end of the school year with bright, colorful light. Dubbed a “festival of spring and light,” students displayed artistic creations on campus; decorated one another in vibrant colors; put on displays of light, dance and music; and were, overall, creatively festive. The event kicked off with the first 5K color run/walk held on the Karl Fisher Trail on campus.

8 • The

Gryphon Fall 2015

Spring & Fall Sports Wrap Up SPRING

Last spring was a “banner season” for the Ultimate Frisbee A-team and the boys’ varsity tennis team, as both squads captured 2015 championships in the Massachusetts Bay Independent League (MBIL).

Boys’ Varsity Tennis The CSW boys’ varsity tennis team earned their firstever MBIL title, clinching the championship. The Gryphons persevered and retained their unblemished record of 13–0. The team was led by captain Sam Hoenig ’15, who was named the 2015 MBIL MVP! Ultimate Frisbee A-team – ‘Uruk-Hai’ The CSW Ultimate Frisbee A-team ‘Uruk-Hai’ clinched the MBIL Ultimate Frisbee Championship for the second year in a row. They recorded an overall regular season

record of 13–3 and participated in three weekend tournaments, winning a coveted ‘Spirit Award’ at their final tournament of the year.

Please join us in congratulating both teams on their championship seasons!

Girls’ Varsity Tennis The team was full of spirit and worked hard this season!

Maya Barnes ’17 played aggressively and won several matches. Sara Bakalchuk ’15 demonstrated a solid serve and consistent groundstrokes. Zhuoran Yu ’15 delivered some well-placed forehands. Leila Burnham ’15 and Alexandra Kahn ’16 had many extended rallies and Michaela Kahn ’16 and Emma Rybeck ’16 played their matches with vigor.

Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse The team played hard and well throughout the season.

Raewyn Fairless ’15 led the team in ground ball control, while goal keeper Emma Rochon ’15 had many saves and interceptions. Lucy Perkins ’15 and Izzy Lewis ’15 each scored multiple goals throughout the season.

news & notes • 9

FALL Field Hockey The team started off the season on a great note. As the season progressed they put up a good fight with some strong wins. They ended the season on a positive note.

Cross Country The Gryphon runners made it far enough to compete in the MBIL Cross Country Championship Meet. The team finished 5th overall—consistently beating previous records. Ben Blaustein ’17 finished first for the Gryphons several times and was made an MBIL All-League player!

Andre Eaton ’16, Will Murray ’16, and William Huang ’19 all beat their previous times by the end of the season.

Nowhere Everywhere is a three-part series of exhibits centering on Sir Thomas More’s nearly 500-year-old literary classic, Utopia, acknowledging the book’s quincentennial and the rhetorical conceit it introduced that gave rise to a literary genre. More’s invented word, “utopia”—a “non-place” and a “nowhere”—and the idea of human “perfectibility” present key concepts that the Nowhere Everywhere exhibition series examines through the work of China Marks (Long Island City, NY), Raúl Gonzalez III (Boston, MA), and a group show in the spring.

China Marks— Nowhere Everywhere September 4– November 14, 2015

Michael Oatman— All Utopias Fell November 23, 2015

Boys’ Varsity Soccer Boys’ varsity soccer posted a league record of 5 wins, 6 losses and 1 tie. They finished the regular season in 4th place in the Mass. Bay Independent League (MBIL), ultimately losing the quarterfinal matchup.

Girls’ Varsity Soccer The girls posted a league record of 6 wins and 6 losses and finished the regular season in 4th place in the Independent Girls Conference (IGC). During their IGC quarterfinal matchup, they took an early lead and never looked back, eventually winning.

Girls’ JV Soccer CSW JV girls played with great passion and teamwork this season. Ellena Sakai ’18 initiated several shots and secured well-placed goals. Julia Bingel ’19 and Ella Trumper ’18 hoisted the midfield with outstanding attitude and hustle.

Boys’ JV Soccer The team posted a league record of 8 wins and 3 losses— a tremendous season! Chris Green ’16 and Ashton O’Brien ’16 lobbed numerous balls toward the goal. Goal keeper Jared Liebscher ’16 and his defensive enforcers earned multiple shut outs for the Gryphons.

Raúl Gonzalez III— Nowhere Everywhere December 17, 2015– March 11, 2016

Nowhere Everywhere April 1–June 18, 2016

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Gryphon Fall 2015

Noteworthy

Undefeated and Unstoppable— Written from an Insider’s Perspective

above Bottom Row: L–R: Eric (Kun) Qian ’17, Leaf Fagerberg ’18, Sam Hoenig ’15, Zachary Taylor Top Row: L–R: Chad Valpey ’17, Nolan DeMott ’16, Sam Rueter ’17, Josh Rueter ’17, Harry Klein ’18, Garrett Stokes ’16

Through many years of teaching Spanish and coaching various sports, I have experienced varying levels of what many deem conventional “success,” as well as its opposite. Very rarely have I been able to classify one teaching or coaching experience as an unmitigated failure or a success that is beyond reproach, until I had the pleasure of coaching the CSW boys’ varsity tennis team in the spring of 2015. I knew when we began our season that our tennis squad had all the elements to wage a successful campaign and to earn the first-ever Massachusetts Bay Independent

League (MBIL) championship in the history of CSW tennis.

The CSW boys tennis arsenal was fully stocked from week one in March until June. Our efforts were spearheaded by the indefatigable Sam Hoenig ’15, captain and fearless leader. Sam consistently played well throughout the year, and did not lose a single set. Our team experienced the usual struggles that any organization poised for excellence encounters: sometimes against unforgiving opponents, and facing our harshest critics—ourselves! I was often amazed at the mind-bending lengths everyone

on this team went to improve their tennis games.

Whether this success can be replicated in the spring of 2016 is a question the author is too wise to even attempt to answer. We can only hope that we will offer our best, and genuinely enjoy improving our tennis games and becoming a closer unit.

We can always rest on our laurels; as Wordsworth once wrote, “We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind.”

—Zachary A. Taylor, boys’ varsity tennis team coach and Spanish teacher.

noteworthy • 11

Faith Soloway, Emmy Awardwinning writer/creator, was a guest artist during the summer.

Summer Arts 2015 Highlights Celebrating its fifth year in 2015, Summer Arts welcomed several impressive guests artists who collaborated with campers while sharing their unique, artistic experiences. The program introduces young artists to successful professionals who inspire and encourage them in their creative pursuits. Faith Soloway, an alumna of the multiarts summer program, and the co-writer/creator of the Emmy Award-winning show Transparent, as well as a professional actress and musician, was a popular guest artist. She spent a day interacting with the campers, speaking about her path in the entertainment field and encouraging the audience members to “try everything.”

This was the second summer that 15 students from Yihai School, CSW’s sister school in Beijing, attended the program as part of the International Creative Arts Program (ICAP). They lived on campus, and attended classes in both Summer Arts and English as a Second Language.

This season was especially exciting as nine CSW alumni/ae served as camp counselors, instructors, counselors-in-training and apprentices. Additionally, seven campers enjoyed the opportunity to express their creativity at Summer Arts before beginning the school year as part of the Class of 2019.

Progressive Education Lab Thrives in Third Year

The Progressive Education Lab (PEL) welcomed a cohort of four new fellows to campus this fall: Sigal Rose Gerson Kadden, (Hampshire College graduate) Sarah Simon, (Princeton University graduate), Michael Vercillo (Williams College graduate), and Abby Verney-Fink (Bates College graduate).

CSW is the first stop of their program with three partner schools (Putney, Calhoun and Unquowa), where the fellows worked with two integrated studies classes—Ordering Chaos, a 9th-grade course, and Re-Ordering Chaos, a 12th-grade course. They worked together in the classroom and spent time observing and completing projects, including the creation of a template for a CSW Student Learning Self-Portrait.

Peruse their experiences and insights through the PEL Blog, where they will post on their progress throughout the program. http://progressiveeducationlab.wordpress.com

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12 • The

Gryphon Fall 2015

Off-Campus Study Program Expands to China and Taiwan Among the several off-campus courses that are offered to students, the China-Taiwan Mod Abroad that launched last spring provides an exceptional opportunity for students to strengthen their Mandarin Chinese as well as learn about the history, geography, food, lifestyles, arts and many other aspects of the area’s culture and society. In the span of four to five weeks, students gain diverse experiences and deepen their understanding of Chinese cultures through the well-designed planning of visits to distinctive sites—the capital city of Beijing, China, and Kaohsiung, a city in southern Taiwan. The program provides a combination of educational experiences

with expeditions to East Asia every other year. Students are asked to apply what they learned in CSW classrooms before traveling abroad (typically Mod 5) and explore the unknown with curious eyes.

During their two weeks in China, students stayed in dormitories and immersed themselves in the international program at Yihai School in Beijing, a private educational institution that is also

CSW’s sister school. The first cohort of CSW students abroad studied Chinese calligraphy, martial arts, geography, Chinese traditional dance and music and took English classes with local students. They toured the Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Beijing Hutong, and many other notable places.

In Taiwan the cohort lived with host families and attended Wun-Shan High School, a public school in Kaohsiung. Their

noteworthy • 13

above Alison Safford, visual arts teacher, relaxes in Amsterdam.

Faculty & Staff Summer Highlights

daily classes included arts, Peking opera, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese cooking, and geography. Their travels took them to Chengcing Lake by bicycle, visits to Kenting National Park, hot springs, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Ximending, night markets, and hands-on with Taiwanese earth oven cooking and KTV singing.

Students were challenged to take an outsider’s perspective—and carefully observe and report their discoveries and participate in various activities with the local communities. They recorded daily highlights and reflections in personal blog journals, and completed individualized research projects, contributed to an online group page, and presented a video presentation to the class. Upon the return from the trip, it was evident that the students developed a better understanding and appreciation of these cultures.

opposite top Students visit Fo Guang Shan Monastery in southern Taiwan. o p p o s i t e mid d l e Calligraphy class at Yihai School, Beijing. opposite bot tom Fongyi Tutorial Academy, built in the Qing Dynasty rule of Taiwan. above top Skyline that includes Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world. a b o v e mid d l e Students took Peking opera class in Wun-Shan High School.

As a visiting critic and an artist-teacher in the New Hampshire Institute of Art’s (NHIA) low residency MFA program, Visual Arts Teacher and Thompson Gallery Director Todd Bartel was selected as their first graduation speaker. Todd has been connected with the NHIA since the program’s inception two years ago; the founding members were his graduate students at Vermont College (Visual Art Low Residency Program).

Music Teacher Gustavo Brasil played guitar with one of the best drummers in São Paulo, Brazil: Bruno Tessele. The sessions were recorded live in the studio and made into videos. They included two songs: “Cindy” (original) and a modern version of the classic “Girl From Ipanema.”

Gustavo said, “I’m very happy with the recording/video!”

Anne Dykiel, French teacher helped her daughter Juliane, 21, to train a wild mustang in 100 days.

Juliane said: “It’s one thing to have a parent support what you love, but it’s even more meaningful when they become part of your team. My guess is that very few were able to turn to their own moms for training help. She used her clicker training skills to teach the horse to follow me willingly and trustingly through obstacles such as water and curtains.” continued ▶

14 • The

Gryphon Fall 2015

Faculty & Staff Summer Highlights continued

In the spirit of health and wellness, Jen Quest-Stern, director of counseling, tackled the mountain bike stint in the Top Notch Triathlon in Franconia, NH. Visual Arts Teacher Alison Safford was in Amsterdam to join a program with Ted Munter (former CSW faculty) and K.T. Falk ’14. She met several other alumni/ae in the area including Ali Eddy ’12 and Seung Hye Kim ’13. Alison made drawings to prep for sculptures, which became important in their own right, and began a work she calls “contingent objects.” “It was incredible,” she shared.

A group of CSW faculty, some retired and some still teaching, gather as a book club to read and discuss a variety of literary genres. They explore important social

justice-oriented literature, traditional classics, and works by our renowned faculty authors such as Shubah Sunder and Brian Walker. Enlightening books read by the club this summer? Lisa Hirsch, theater teacher shares: Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson (human rights lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative)

▶

Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy, by Carlos Eire, who was one of thousands of children airlifted to Florida to escape Castro’s regime

▶

t o p l ef t K.T. Falk ’14, Ted Munter, Ana Elisa Sucha, Alison Safford, Gabriel Faerstein, Alan Grover, and Susie Brandt P ’12 b o t t o m l ef t Ineke Heerkens (Dutch artist), Alison Safford, and Seung Hye Kim ’13 b el o w Top L–R: Susie Brandt P ’12, boat guide, Ted Munter, Alan Grover

T he Meursault Investigation

by Kamel Daoud

▶

Albert Camus’s L’Étranger

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From Freedom Rides to Ferguson: A Dialogue about Race and Allyship Late last winter, an extraordinary event garnered a full house of students, parents, faculty and staff. Ellen Ziskind ’57 and Paul Breines both participated in the Freedom Rides of 1961 and visited CSW for a discussion about their participation and what race and allyship mean in the wake of current events.

a b o v e L–R: Ellen Ziskind ’57, Johára Tucker, director of social justice and multicultural programming l ef t Ellen and Paul pose with a group of students.

living on campus • 15

Living on Campus

16 • The

Gryphon Fall 2015

Family Visit Days Filled with Special Performances, Tours, Fall Theatre Production and More The end of October marked Family Visit Days on campus. In addition to attending classes and meeting with teachers and advisors, family members were treated to an assembly showcase, special activities and a chance to show their Gryphon pride during two quarterfinal varsity soccer match-ups for both boys and girls teams.

An exciting bonus this year was the public phase of the campaign for the new Health and Fitness center which included hardhat tours of the site and a ceremonial beam-raising. An enthusiastic crowd gathered on the lower fields to watch as the steel beam, signed by students, faculty and members of our community, was raised into place by Stanmar, the design/ build firm.

The weekend coincided with the CSW fall production of Metamorphoses, a play adapted from the original tales by Ovid.

Presented in a series of vignettes, several myths introduced the stories of Midas, Orpheus and Eurydice. The entire CSW community contributed to the production by donating thousands of bottles and jars for the set.

18 • The

Gryphon Fall 2015

Bookshelf Andrew Chase ’72: 200 Best Ice Pop Recipes Everyone is rediscovering the frozen and fun appeal of ice pops because they are truly one of the easiest yet most satisfying treats you can make at home. Even better, these recipes eliminate the artificial flavorings and colorings found in commercial varieties and are actually full of healthy, wholesome ingredients—making them the perfect frozen delight for all.

These tantalizing recipes provide endless inspiration for everything from cooling off on the hottest of summer days to providing the perfect ending to a barbecue or an afternoon snack for the kids.

The author provides everything needed to be known about making ice pops at home, from choosing ingredients to freezing and foolproof unmolding tips.

Roy Peterson ’64: Of Heroic Destiny: Volume II (A Pictorial Archive) This short novel, written as the journal of a Swedish Pagan SS officer who tries to change Nazi policy anonymously from within, chronicles the rise of the Third Reich as a sprawling historical epic with detail and explores the arcane roots of Nazism.

Sophie Flack ’01: Bunheads As a dancer with the ultra-prestigious Manhattan Ballet Company, nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward juggles intense rehearsals, dazzling performances and complicated backstage relationships. Until now, Hannah has happily devoted her entire life to ballet.

But when she meets a handsome musician named Jacob, Hannah’s universe begins to change, and she must decide if she wants to compete against the other “bunheads” in the company for a star soloist spot or strike out on her own in the real world. Does she dare give up the gilded confines of the ballet for the freedoms of everyday life?

(Sophie Flack danced with the New York City Ballet from 2000 to 2009).

Calling Alumni Authors

Let us know of your latest novel, memoir, poetry collection, non-fiction or other published work!

Send news to: alum@csw.org

csw litmag • 19

LitMag From LitMag, CSW’s long-running literary magazine managed and coordinated by students. LitMag is published twice a year.

By Noa Machover ’15 Pit of Honey My back no longer sits straight. The vertebrae used to extend in an effort to grab the ceiling, greedy for life. Recently, as soon as I am seated, my back furls and brings my nose close to my bellybutton. My shoulders are either clenched to my ears or collapsed in an ugly elbow-hug. I used to pride myself on the strength of my back. I would place my tailbone against the wall and raise my arms up beside my ears, demonstrating my muscles at work, contracting to hold my arms in place. It’s funny how everything is connected inside. It’s funny how disconnected my tummy sometimes feels. It’s like my muscles have been replaced with a pit of bitter honey.

I’ve seen photographs contrasting a person with perfect posture and a person with horrible posture. Whenever someone talks about posture, age comes up. About how our bodies get older. And we feel gravity.

And we feel the wear.

By Isabel Lewis ’15 Untitled I’ve seen people singing in the streets of Spain, saints’ day, children clutching fishbowls and surly cats as holy water rains down on them.

I’ve watched my sister’s First Communion, saw the awe and fear emblazoned on her face as she led the crowd to the apse of the church.

Her white veil framed her face, her gown reached for her toes, and the thorny rose she clutched at so began to prick her hands. I’ve seen you fall out of faith, and I watched your eyes as God left them and you welcomed something else in, new. The Spanish air hangs low, presses against our thighs and bitten lips. It steals us, plucks our meaty hearts from ribcages cracked open. Drunk on red-blood wine, we spin, dizzy like children in the grip of something so much greater than we know.

Autumn on campus is always a beautiful setting for gathering outside.

22 • The

Gryphon Fall 2015

Profiles: For and By Alumni/ae

Gillian assisting an elder in Nyanza Province, Kenya.

profiles: for and by alumni/ae • 23

Gillian Harper Ice ’86: Taking Strides in Global Health

By Merissa Collins ’15 Gillian Ice ’86 just began work with the Ministry of Health in Botswana and was awarded Ohio University’s first Faculty Award for Global Engagement and will be promoted to full professor this year.

Merissa Collins ’15: A large portion of your research and work is on measuring stress in humans—can you share some of the top factors or findings of this work? gillian harper ice ’86: Stress is a very complex thing to study. While we know in the laboratory intensive and controlled stressors can increase blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol and epinephrine, the impact of stressors in real life are a bit more difficult to study. Several studies, including some of my own, have shown that stressors (potentially noxious stimuli), impact people differently for a variety of reasons. In my own work, I have found that in long-term care institutions, there are different parts of the institutions and different activities that people find more stressful than others (based on their average blood pressure). We also know developmental stage is important—younger people and older people are more vulnerable to stressors than middle-aged people. Additionally, people have different coping resources that enable them to deal with stressors. For example, people with richer social networks experience fewer negative effects of stress.

Merissa: How did you come to focus on grandparents caring for orphaned children in Kenya? gillian: My work in Kenya was somewhat serendipitous. My college had a clinical program in Kenya and a colleague suggested I go for a visit to explore opportunities. This was at the height of the HIV epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa and I had been curious about the impact of the loss of the middle generation on the wellbeing of older adults: especially as a potential stressor. I absolutely

loved it and started writing grants to explore the topic.

Merissa: What did the research conclude about the impact of stress on those elderly caretakers? gillian: When I started the research, many aid agencies were very concerned for older people, particularly older women, who were caring for children in the context of HIV/AIDS. The assumption was that older women would be burdened, stressed, malnourished and unhealthy as a result of caregiving. My results were almost exactly opposite. Women do describe challenges and many do find caregiving stressful but they are rising to the challenge.

Furthermore, many women actually appear to be benefiting from their caregiving role. On average, caregiving women are better nourished and healthier than their noncaregiving counterparts.

Merissa: What are some of the challenges in working with Kenyan families? gillian: One of the first challenges was methodological. In Dholuo (the language of the Luo people in western Kenya), there is no word for stress. Many of the scales to measure stress in the U.S. were not applicable because they were based on American cultural values. So, to even begin the study, I had to develop a culturally appropriate scale to measure stress. There were many other logistical challenges— cultural misunderstandings, difficulty powering equipment where there was no electricity, difficulty accessing remote communities, etc. This led me to write my recent book Disasters in Field Research.

Merissa: How do you think we are doing, as a whole, in global health? Are there any issues or areas that you feel need the public’s attention? gillian: We have made great strides in global health, with many countries working hard to significantly reduce maternal and early childhood mortality rates and addressing many health issues. The news and the public often focuses on short-lived but dramatic epidemics like Ebola, which compared to the impact of the health issues above is relatively minor when measured

in lives lost or long-lasting disability. Access to healthcare and gender equity are still driving many health patterns.

Neglected tropical diseases remain largely unsolved, malaria is still an enormous burden in many countries. With development and globalization, the global prevalence of obesity is on the rise and with it increasing rates of chronic disease.

Merissa: How did your work in Kenya affect your career in the U.S.? gillian: Shifting my research to Kenya had a great impact on my overall career.

It led to my becoming the director of International Programs for the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and then the Director of the Global Health Initiative— a joint effort for the College of Health Sciences of Professions. I oversee 13 study abroad programs, have developed courses, certificate programs and am currently developing a master’s program in global health.

Merissa: You were a dancer as a young girl, while at CSW and even minored in it at college. Was that a serious pursuit? gillian: Just like at CSW, I found joy in the balance of art and academics. CSW really inspired me to dig deeply into subjects.

I didn’t have the talent to go further, but it was great getting to explore it.

Merissa: How can young children and teenagers like myself get involved and continue the conversation around global health? gillian: My first field experience was in 2002. Traveling and volunteering is what allows students to realize that the problems of healthcare and poverty aren’t just overseas, but they happen right in our own neighborhoods. Often students don’t realize that the problems of poverty in Kenya and Botswana are similar to the poverty and health inequities we have here in the U.S. Merissa Collins ’15 is working on a double major in psychology and dance at the University of MarylandCollege Park.

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Gryphon Fall 2015

Hannah Clark Steiman ’98: Finding Balance

By Anneke Reich ’09 Hannah Clark Steiman ’98 was a journalist for seven years, starting as a freelancer out of college, and ultimately writing for Forbes magazine and serving as an editor at Inc. magazine. She managed communications for the Clinton Global Initiative and now works as a strategy consultant at Innosight, a firm focused on helping large companies innovate for the long term.

Anneke: What were the challenges of being a speechwriter? hannah: My role was particularly challenging. I had far from the knowledge that his personal speechwriters have. It took some time to get to know Bill Clinton— his way of speaking, for instance.

Anneke: What drew you to journalism? hannah: I had always loved writing. I became editor in chief of the college paper my senior year and loved it. My interest in business journalism was really born out of a few experiences I had in college. My sophomore year, there was a massive protest in Seattle surrounding the World Trade Organization meeting. And it was the first time I heard the term “globalization.” The economy was changing rapidly, and people were justifiably scared and concerned.

Partly as a result of that experience, I

studied abroad in Ghana, where I looked at how World Bank and IMF policies had affected small-scale farmers. Also, Enron collapsed during my senior year of college, and thousands of ordinary people lost their savings. I saw a huge need for journalists to interpret business and economic issues for the general public.

Anneke: You describe journalism as a “job for hedgehogs”—please explain! hannah: The saying goes, “A fox knows many things, but a hedgehog one important thing.” In some ways, journalists are foxes, because they’re curious. But journalists actually think in one particular way: they research, analyze, and write. People who have lifelong careers in journalism often feel they wouldn’t be suited for anything else. By contrast, I’ve found that I like working in environments that stimulate me in diverse ways. I like jobs that require me to keep fifty balls in the air at once.

Anneke: Has your work in strategy consulting been a departure from journalism? hannah: It’s about problem solving. As a journalist, you must ask what’s happening here? How did we get here? Where are we heading? And how can we change our trajectory? Strategy consulting is similar.

With each client project, we’re essentially asking the same questions. As a journalist and sometimes as a strategy consultant, you often have one big thing to think about all day long.

Anneke: Did CSW have anything to do with your path? hannah: CSW reinforced my fox-like tendencies.

I covered such a wide range of topics studying at CSW, and it enabled me to explore. This has been a theme throughout my professional career. CSW empowers you to be yourself, and that’s not something most people experience in high school or even in college for that matter.

Anneke: You’re a certified yoga instructor.

And a meditator. How has this impacted your life? hannah: My yoga teacher training was a big moment for me. I started to understand

“I covered such a wide range of topics studying at CSW, and it enabled me to explore. This has been a theme throughout my professional career.

CSW empowers you to be yourself, and that’s not something most people experience in high school or even in college for that matter. ” —Hannah Steiman

how much of our experience is driven by our internal point of view as opposed to what’s happening externally. I had one experience during my training where I spent an hour breathing and completely transformed my mood, even though nothing about my life had changed in that hour.

I think a lot of “millennials” often spend our 20s trying to make changes in our external environment. You’re always looking toward the next thing. And at some point, you think there is some destination you’re going to reach.

You’re going to have the job, that personal life, and then it’ll be done—you’ll just be there. In my thirties, I realized there’s not one destination. You never get to some point where it’s over. There is no external solution I can reach that can give me happiness.

It really is an internal journey.

Anneke Reich ’09 is a Bostonbased educator, actor, and singer.

She is working to build sustainable theater arts integration programs in several Boston Public High Schools, as well as with the education departments at Company One and Actors’ Shakespeare Project. Anneke co-founded Artists Theater of Boston, a theater collective which is committed to creating accessible work that critically deconstructs and stages social and political issues.

profiles: for and by alumni/ae • 25

Michael Fleming ’81: Building a cornerstone for journalism, philanthropy and public policy

By Eric Ginsburg ’06 When Michael Fleming ’81 and I talked earlier this month, he had just arrived in Berlin. Though traveling for pleasure, Fleming’s role as the executive director of the David Bohnett Foundation periodically takes him abroad, too. The Los Angelesbased organization adheres to a social justice motto that could’ve easily been coined by CSW’s founders, he mused.

His work at the foundation is just one of his impressive accomplishments—Fleming served on the White House Council for Community Solutions and worked as an associate producer at WGBH in Boston— and CSW influenced every step.

Eric Ginsburg ’06: What brings you to Berlin?

How often do you travel internationally? michael fleming ’81: This year, I was in Dublin right before their historic vote to guarantee marriage equality for all, I’ve been to Denmark to learn how a city can craft a bicycling master plan, and today I’m in Berlin. This one is supposed to be pleasure, but I am here with a friend who is a professor at Art Center College—and his

“I had the best teachers, made friends that have lasted my entire life, learned skills and developed talents that I never knew I had, and really became the person that I wanted to be.”

—Michael Fleming

class is all about “place” and “disruption”— so I am seeing this city through the eyes of his students, which is fascinating.

Eric: You teach classes on philanthropy and public policy. What’s the overlap? michael: The genesis of that class came from the realization that as cities across the U.S. were being asked to do more, they were being asked to do so with less. If Mike Bloomberg offers to buy new textbooks or iPads for every student, we’d probably cheer.

But what happens if it’s the Koch Brothers who wanted to do that instead? Would we be as happy to accept their donation?

From gay rights to gun violence to public broadcasting, philanthropists are using their considerable resources to play a key role in the public policy debates of our day.

It is a fascinating topic to study—and even more so to try and teach!

Eric: The David Bohnett Foundation works on several fronts. Is one closest to your heart? michael: As we chat, I am watching CNN and the coverage of this latest mass shooting in Oregon. To me, our efforts to confront the scourge of gun violence have been one of the most important areas of our funding. I share the frustration of so many who have toiled so long and hard on this topic, only to have weak politicians and the NRA seemingly rule this issue. But I have also seen grassroots efforts across the country—folks who have made a difference in enacting local and statewide common sense gun reforms—and I believe that if we keep at this [and] make smart, strategic funding decisions, we can and will have an impact.

Eric: Did CSW prepare you tackle such important issues? michael: It is tough to think of a skill that I use today that wasn’t honed at CSW. Chief among them are my ability to listen and my skills at and love of teaching. When I graduated in 1981, I don’t think that I was thinking of either of those, but my intense curiosity and love of learning—both of which are the direct result of my CSW experience—really were the cornerstones of my future. Curiosity propelled me to

ask lots of questions, whether as a journalist or a grant maker, and appreciating the power of the classroom to change hearts and minds [is] a direct result of having teachers who did that for me.

Eric: What do you remember most about CSW? michael: I was asked that same question the other day by my “nephew” Caleb Kluchman ’19, a freshman at CSW [who] is the son of my best friend David Kluchman ’82. I told him that I had the best teachers, made friends that have lasted my entire life, learned skills and developed talents that I never knew I had, and really became the person that I wanted to be—even if I didn’t know it at the time.

Eric Ginsburg ’06 co-founded Triad City Beat newspaper in Greensboro, NC, where he works as an associate editor, delivery driver, intern program coordinator, food writer, photographer, copy editor and party planner, among a few dozen other roles. He hopes to one day cohabitate with a corgi, and that his peers will attend their 10th CSW reunion soon.

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Gryphon Fall 2015

Creativity@Work Wave your hands for Pocket Players: 30-Year Retrospective Pocket Players, CSW’s unique touring children’s theater, gives students an introduction to deaf culture and American Sign Language (ASL), and an opportunity to learn from a deaf linguist, to create bilingual ASL/Spoken English theater to share deaf culture. It features colorful backdrops and costumes and lively physicality.

It was Robin Wood, former theater teacher (1944–2009), who worked to make CSW friendly and accessible by introducing Deaf Studies to our school. From informal ASL classes in 1984 to bilingual theater productions that eventually became our

unique ASL and Pocket Players, she helped establish ASL I, II, and III classes and the creation of a certified language credit for students in 2006. Since 1987, her efforts produced Little Theatre for the deaf performances and professionally interpreted main stage performances.

Ron Galiazzo, ASL Teacher and Co-Director of Pocket Players, has led the course and the group of performers for almost 30 years, and will retire at the end of the year. He worked closely with Robin to achieve a national honor bestowed to the CSW theater department by The Learning Center for Deaf Children for “foresight in providing hearing students instruction in ASL and deaf culture through theater” and for its “spirit, creativity, and commitment to the education of deaf community members” in 2005.

The popular ASL class now receives a social justice credit, towards the new graduation requirement. Lisa Hirsch, Theater Teacher and Co-Director of the group has been involved with the program since its early inception (26 years!).

“We are conscientiously and constantly thinking and rethinking word choice, gender discrimination, equality,” shared Lisa. “We choose our themes carefully before beginning rehearsals with youngsters.”

Plays come from a variety of sources and are transcribed into a written form of ASL created by Ron called Gloss.

“This class teaches our students many skills to use while working against prejudice and discrimination,” Ron shared. “Our students learn a lot from visiting schools and presenting to others from diverse ethnic, linguistic, and ability backgrounds, and

creativity@work • 27

they especially attune themselves about body language and how to speak about different abilities.”

Stories come from children’s literature and world folk and fairy tales. International students have written tales from their home countries. One student teacher in theater and education from Emerson College wrote and directed a version of The Little Red Hen. Stories with comic physicality are the most popular, like our

version of Gammer Gurtin’s Needle, one of the earliest comedies written in the English language in 1533.

Baba Yaga, The Giant Chaser, Jackie, The Dragon Prince, The Clever Magistrate, Stone Soup, Duffy and the Devil, The Devil with Three Hairs, Lazy Jack, Momotaro The Peach Boy, The Cat and the Mouse—the list goes on and on!

For more than 25 years, Pocket Players is consistently invited back to perform for

Beverly School for the Deaf, The Learning Center for Deaf, Quincy School in Boston, the Dr. Henderson Inclusion School and the New England Home for the Deaf.

“By learning the language, and becoming comfortable with deaf culture, students can enter into a usually closed part of our world,” said Ron. “By sharing bilingual theater in elementary schools we de-stigmatize deafness for generations of children.”

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Gryphon Fall 2015

Creativity@Work continued

Robotics Team is Moving & Shaking The year began with lots of interest at the Club and Activities Fair to recruit new members. The returning members have been busy planning for pre-season, which includes fundraising ideas, attending robotics workshops at Northeastern University, skill-building such as computeraided design work, building prototypes and simple mechanics and electrical systems.

The team anxiously awaits the announcement of this year’s game for competition in January 2016.

Upcoming competitions include Reading on March 11–13 and Boston on April 1–3.

Have engineering skills? Become a mentor! Email Karen Bruker: kbruker@csw.org

3D Printing: Body Edition With two new shiny 3D printers in the visual arts department, a course taught by Alison Safford and Chris Whitaker has already created buzz. This course will take a creative approach to exploring techniques of 3D printing, computer-aided design (CAD) and artwork that uses the body as a subject and site. Students will explore technical, personal, and aesthetic issues through the use of assignments, critiques, problem-solving exercises or fieldwork,

and both visual and written materials.

The course will involve basic hardware and software skills, along with skills rooted in the hand to further manipulate materials.

Concepts will relate to the wide and varied history of adornment, jewelry, clothing, and sculpture. Students will be asked to maintain a thoughtful exchange between the concepts and techniques in both digital and analog media, and give critical thought to the role of each, and where they intersect.

“In principle, the work of art has always been reproducible. Objects made by humans could always be copied by humans.

Replicas were made by pupils in practicing for their craft, by masters in disseminating their works, and, finally, by third parties in pursuit of profit. But the technological reproduction of artworks is something new.”

—Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, 1935.

course spotlight • 29

Course Spotlight

Art & Community e i g h t y e a r s ag o , this class was developed as an integrated way to study art and math. Initially developed by Tom Evans and Moses Rifkin, they first partnered with The Mather School in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester, the oldest public elementary school in North America.

Currently taught by Anne Rearick, Photography Teacher, the class now works with both The Mather School and the Thomas J. Kenny Elementary School, also in Dorchester. CSW students travel twice a week to liaise as art teachers for the young students on a variety of creative art projects. Over the course of five weeks, more than just art is shared—CSW students essentially become mentors, and develop close bonds with their young learners.

Art & Community is designed with two objectives. The first is bringing an arts enrichment program to a 2nd-grade class at the Kenny School. The other objective of the course was to begin to

explore white privilege and improve understanding of the invisible advantages that come from being white in America.

Sponsored by the National Arts and Learning Collaborative, a program that is committed to helping students experience the educational power of the arts, the two inner-city schools serve student bodies that are almost 50 percent African American.

Anne encourages discussion with her classes about how to collaborate and work with communities that have fewer resources, and the power and responsibility that come with that privilege.

“I tell students to be acutely aware and very careful with that power,” she said.

At the end of the mod, Kenny students attend the end-of-mod art show on campus for a chance to see their work on exhibition in the community gallery. The visitors also sit in on a few CSW classes, tour the school and eat lunch together.

CSW BY THE NUMBERS states

countries

’15–’16 Student body representation

3

Number of Gryphon statues on campus

84

Number of 9thgrade students who took Food & Culture this fall

3000

20

sets

23

Number of sibling sets in current student body, which is 13.4% of the student body!

Number of glass and plastic containers used as part of set design for the Metamorphoses fall production

Number of new parking spaces the Health & Fitness center will create

faculty feature

Agnes Voligny Corporate Accountant × [Risk] = CSW Math Teacher

By Eli Keehn, English teacher “ i l i k e s c a r i n g m y s e l f ,” says Agnes Voligny, “but in a manageable way.”

Agnes’s immensely varied professional life consistently reflects her desire—to constantly seek new experiences and push boundaries, but doing so with great control and care. Her philosophy has allowed her to accumulate a vast range of experience across countries and disciplines, to learn about and be involved in issues on a global scale.

Born in Manila, the Philippines, Agnes completed undergraduate degrees in math and management at Wellesley College and MIT before returning home to become a missionary— “which my parents were scratching their heads about,” she says. “Missionary work connected me to people; I grew up very sheltered and didn’t really know much outside my circle, so when I was a missionary it opened my eyes to another world beyond mine, that I hadn’t seen before.”

faculty feature: agnes voligny • 33

Following her two years in Manila, Agnes transitioned to corporate finance, working at an accounting firm in the Philippines, then in Boston and Philadelphia.

Even in the more sedate and serious world of accounting, she found ways to push and challenge herself, accumulating experience across the firm’s various divisions. Eventually, however, she tired of the work. “It was so fun, and I remember the general feeling of loving my job, but if you asked me now

a restaurant,” she says. “So that’s what I did.” For four years, she successfully operated a bakery in Lexington, MA, a job that indirectly led her to her calling in education. “The cheapest way for me to run the bakery was to hire high school students. It was the best work culture. I wasn’t their friend, and I wasn’t their parent, but we had a connection.” So when Agnes chose again to transition to another career, she used her love of the age group to guide her, returning to school for a master’s degree in secondary education.

For eight years, Agnes’s work at CSW has continued to reflect her love of risk-taking. Her signature course in the math department, Entrepreneurship, attracts dozens of applicants and fills the campus with extraordinary energy during the mods it’s in session. “When you get a taste of being an entrepreneur, where it’s kind of scary but there’s really nothing to lose, it’s more likely that you would do it again,” she says.

Most significant, though, is Agnes’s work with CSW’s international students— work that is informed by her own experience. “I was a foreign student in college, and got very confused about my experience,” she says. “One of the things I concluded from my schooling in America was, ‘I must be stupid, because I can’t understand what these people are saying.’

It worked out in the end, but if nobody helps you frame what’s going on, it’s very hard to blossom in your environment. I feel strongly that kids who are international should be able to find their voice.” Her interest in this work led her to spearhead CSW’s hosting of the Asian American Footsteps Conference last year.

Throughout her life, across various career paths, Agnes has successfully scared herself—but always carefully, always with a plan. CSW, she says, has been the ideal place for her in that way. “What I love here is the opportunity; if you want to take a risk, there’s room for it.”

“When you get a taste of being an entrepreneur, where it’s kind of scary but there’s really nothing to lose, it’s more likely that you would do it again.”

—Agnes Voligny

what specifically was fun about it, I couldn’t tell you,” she says. “Then one day I was on the phone with a client, and we were arguing about their accounts receivable, and in the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘This is ridiculous—what are we talking about?’ And it was all downhill from there.”

Deciding to leave her corporate job represented another carefully planned risk, and an opportunity for Agnes to realize a lifelong dream. “When I was sixteen, I had a goal that when I was forty, I would own

faculty feature

faculty feature: tad lawrence • 35

Tad Lawrence Inspiring Learning in Students & Adults

By Jeannette Lee-Parikh, English teacher at c s w , s t u d e n t s d e v e l o p

their learning trajectories. They are inspired to form reflective practices where they realize the potential to fully be themselves. Students, and not the curriculum, are at the center of teaching and learning.

Seventeen-year CSW teaching veteran, Tad Lawrence, has been part of creating and sustaining this student-centered approach. Throughout his tenure, he taught in every department except Languages, which is a testament to the uniqueness of CSW. Currently, he is a science and visual arts teacher who is committed to ensuring that students are inspired by and grounded in reflective democratic practices and creative problem-solving.

Creative problem-solving is modeled in his FATE: Understanding by Analysis class.

In this 9th-grade science course, students learn the analytical tools necessary for answering data-driven questions. They are introduced to scientific thinking and practices, which is a departure from typical high-school science classes that focus on rote learning. What’s democratic about FATE is that students collect the data that is of interest to them while developing critical-thinking and statistical skills.

Since learning through cultivating student interest is pedagogically important for Tad, his Animal Behavior class gives students the opportunity to write a research paper on a topic of their choice after doing fieldwork on honeybees and observing the social behavior of animals from termites to wolves.

Tad’s commitment to democratic practices and creative problem-solving is

also reflected in his work within the adult community. As a result, Tad oversees the teacher-evaluation system and a reexamination of CSW’s unique mod schedule.

In fact, Tad brought the evaluation system to CSW. Unlike most schools, CSW’s teacher-evaluation system is studentcentered. It allows Tad and the evaluation committee to support teachers as they inspire student learning in the dynamic mod system. Tad’s quest to nourish this learning environment also drove the scheduling committee to audit the mod schedule, which was implemented in the 1970s. Although minor tweaks were made over the years, it never underwent significant review. The scheduling committee is exploring what a novel studentcentered schedule looks like in the 21st century. Under consideration are longer mods, less mods, a combination of shortintensive and longer mods, a summer mod, programmatic days beyond classroom learning, and more. Because Tad believes that teaching and learning is democratic and participatory, the committee consistently solicits adult feedback.

What’s really exciting for Tad is that CSW has so few obstacles to making learning participatory, exciting and reflective.

Teachers and students have ultimate freedom to create learning experiences that are suited to the individual because there is no Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate program that constrains learning. Tad, eager to share this openness with aspiring teachers, has been working with CSW’s Progressive Education Lab

(PEL) since its inception. PEL is a twoyear collaborative post-baccalaureate immersion program in teaching and learning at four progressive schools. It is designed to prepare a new generation of teachers who are passionate about progressive education.

Tad also embodies this passion in his career here at CSW. Professionally, Tad began as a researcher of beetles in New England and the Midwest. After three years, he realized his devotion to science education and became a high-school teacher. Along with his passion for science, Tad has been a potter since high school.

However, pottery always existed around the periphery of his professional life. It was only at CSW that Tad was able to marry his teaching loves of science and pottery.

CSW provided an opportunity for him to explore and develop his own learning path as a teacher. And he is committed to ensuring that all CSW students can do likewise.

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Gryphon Fall 2015

From the Desk of . . .

Janne E. Irvine ’66 An Excerpt from Making Friends with Other Trees and Flowers (My Autobiography) Writing this book was in a way a gift to my students who were too polite to ask questions about my blindness. I was the one receiving a gift, for by acknowledging my limitations I was writing about my strength rather than focusing on my weakness. on music history and appreciation while working on my doctorate in music at the University of Arizona; thirty years later it was due to those classes that I wrote the first half of my autobiography. Every year my classes were on different subjects, composers, or eras, and my students, retirees anxious to escape winter, were entertained. They did not realize I had a serious vision problem. I lectured without notes. For me, that was as comfortable as telling a story, which was precisely what I was doing.

On one March day in 2010 I began telling of a little girl who loved hugging maple trees and sailing red plastic toy canoes in the brook in front of her childhood home in Belmont, Massachusetts. As I became more engaged, so did my audience. I spoke of my i bega n t e ach i ng cl a s se s

premature birth and months spent in an incubator where I was exposed to pure oxygen. It was found the oxygen ruined the retinas, so I became one of hundreds of infants whose vision was damaged or lost due to this treatment.

I shared with my class stories of a happy childhood. Trips across the U.S. and a year in London supplied me with memories to illuminate my love of history and literature.

On returning to Belmont I entered fifth grade during which time I wrote poems and a short story, and played Katisha in a thirty-minute version of The Mikado. The following year I wrote a short play based on Longfellow’s The Courtship of Miles Standish. I was Standish and directed the play. I had Priscilla sing Tallis’s Canon at her ‘hula hoop’ spinning wheel, and hoped the song was of the right era, which it was.

I didn’t know then what a musicologist was nor that I would become one!

The end of sixth grade marked another deterioration of my vision. I began seventh grade at The Cambridge School of Weston and studied meteorology in science. That’s

why I watch the Weather Channel today!

Half way through the eighth grade I lost my ability to read print. From then on my mother read my homework aloud, I took all my exams orally, and kept up with my studies. But what could I do during study halls? It was suggested I try piano lessons again. Nobody knew at that time this decision was to be a life-altering one. My lessons with Mr. Schaaf combined early piano studies with music theory and composition, and by the next year I was writing incidental music for the 9th-grade play. At this point, though a late beginner, I knew I wanted to become a musician.

For my high-school years I attended the Commonwealth School of Boston. I continued studies in music. During the summers, I studied at a camp for junior composers. My prize winning composition, Three Pieces for Four Recorders, was played at my Commonwealth School commencement.

My autobiography ends as I am leaving Belmont to begin life as a Sarah Lawrence College girl. The next forty years will appear in the sequel.

about the author Janne E. Irvine, B.A. Sarah Lawrence College; M.M. Yale University School of Music; A. Mus. D. University of Arizona School of Music, has lived in Tucson, AZ, since 1974.

Her research for her doctoral dissertation, The Completion of Fragmentary Keyboard Works of Mozart, also informed her programs on Music in the Novels of Jane Austen. Dr. Irvine’s autobiography, Making Friends with Other Trees and Flowers­—A Story of Low Vision and High Expectations, is available through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and on Kindle. For further information, contact her at janne@q.com.

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Snapshots of Support Heather Heath Reed ’66 Lessons Learned & Still Learning

How many years have you been a supporter? Since graduation in June 1966.

Why did you choose CSW? I wanted a coed boarding school with no uniforms, a home-style feel, small classes, and where individuality and being oneself were encouraged.

What was your favorite class? I didn’t really have a favorite class. I had wonderful teachers (Judy City Bernstein, Mrs. Weber, Paul Johnson) who supported and cared about me and believed in me.

What lessons did you learn at CSW that have carried forward today? Honestly, I don’t think I really lived in the present moment. I was a pretty typical teenage

girl whose life revolved around her friends, boyfriend, and keeping her head above water academically. It wasn’t until later on that I realized I had been drawing on the “lessons I’d learned” at CSW all along, mainly being true to myself, opening myself to new experiences, and the freedom to make mistakes and try to learn from them. One lesson builds on another and another, and I know I am still learning and growing. I certainly hope so!

What is your most memorable experience?

That’s easy. The first school dance my first year in 1964, I stood back from the crowd as a shy, insecure new student with two left feet. Jesse Jenkins ’66, a very tall, handsome young man came up to me and asked me to dance. I said I didn’t know how and he said, with his wide and wonderful smile, that he wasn’t taking no for an answer and led me onto the dance floor (in the gym in those days). I don’t remember if it was a fast or slow dance, I only remember how kind and fun he was and

that I ended up having a great time mixing with everyone there.

What is one (or several) of your most proud accomplishments? This is a tough question.

I could talk about overcoming personal challenges, or my community service, but despite it sounding very cliché, I’d have to say being a parent. It’s the longest, strongest, most important commitment I’ll ever make. The most exasperating love I’ll ever experience, the training ground for more possibility than I could ever imagine, and through all the ups and downs I am blessed and filled with gratitude every day for the privilege.

Why do you continue to give to CSW so generously? My belief in CSW and watching with great interest its continuing evolution as a unique, well-regarded secondary school that keeps the students’ intellectual and creative curiosity and their desire to make a difference in the world as the heart of the school.

What prompted you to make your first gift?

CSW holds a special place in my heart. Not every minute of my time was happy but what I received from the school in the way of guidance, friendship, and hands-on education warrants my trying to give back a little in thanks.

Is there anything in particular that you feel good about supporting? I have often directed my donations to purchasing books for the CSW library. But my personal favorite is the Alorie Parkhill Endowed Fund for Teacher Mentoring and Training in honor of Alorie Parkhill, who with her wonderful husband Craig, was my dorm parent at Trapelo and has been a mother, sister, friend, and mentor to me for over 50 years. Alorie really understands young people . . . a nd old . . . a nd all of us who know and love her are truly blessed.

Heather Heath Reed ’66 lives in Westport, MA, with her husband Bill and loves her retirement writing poetry, taking long walks on the beach and down farm lanes, reading, and road trips to visit their children and friends.

Raekwon Walker ’13 Part of the Bigger Picture

How many years have you been a supporter of CSW? I would like to think that I gave before graduating, but if I didn’t give during my time there, then I have ever since I left.

Why did you choose CSW? I chose CSW because the website popped! Sounds funny, but it’s true. I had a list of about 20 or so schools that had been suggested to me and I narrowed them down, one by one, according to how “fun” or “exciting” the school looked.

During my visit I was invited to think.

Then, I knew that I would be surrounded by thinkers, and students who cared about something.

There was also a student walking to Kluchman in pajama pants—I knew then, I would bloom into the man that I wanted to be without fear of judgment and ridicule.

What was your favorite class? My favorite class was Anjali Tyagi’s, “The Ramayna: An Avatar’s Journey.” Here, I interacted with a new culture, way of living, and understanding. Though tons of reading, it was fun!

Also, I received the Admissions’ Office “Rising Star” award as an ambassador, and taught at a public school in inner city Baltimore for an entire semester.

Lessons learned at CSW that have carried What prompted you to make your first gift? forward today? It’s OK to fail. It’s OK to Someone’s gift helped pave the way for struggle. And most importantly, it’s OK to me, it is only right that I help to do the same speak up and out for what you believe in. for another.

CSW taught me to use my voice—it is the most powerful tool I have. Just the other Is there anything in particular that you feel day, I had the courage to go up to my board good about supporting? Knowing that of trustee chair and say, “Hi, I have a couple ideas to run past you—do you have a moment?” I’m a part of a team effort. It is not so much about the amount of the gift, though those I am able to engage with all kinds of people from all walks of life with the understanding “big gifts” help; it is about the participation, knowing that I am a part of the bigger that they too are human. picture—taking CSW to the next level and keeping us and future graduates ahead What is one (or several) of your most proud of the pack. accomplishments? Last year, I and other students of color on campus were pioneers of a movement—we marched, and petitioned, Raekwon Walker ’13 is a junior at Goucher College and spoke up loud and proudly about the with a double major in English and political science, beauty of a black struggle. Like Eric Garner, and a concentration in secondary education. He is we couldn’t breath, and last year we involved in many capacities as a student leader, most effectively worked with administration to visibly as an ambassador for the admissions office. think about the black body in the classroom.

Off campus, he is a full-time salesperson at Nordstrom.

Gryphon Fall 2015

feature

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Sound Body, Sound Mind

By Adam Piore ’88

feature: sound body, sound mind • 41

Philosophers since Ancient Roman times have suggested that one of the best ways to promote a healthy mind is to cultivate a healthy body. (“Mens sana in corpore sano,” wrote the 1stcentury Roman poet, Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, or Juvenal.

“A sound mind in a sound body.”)

It’s only in recent years, however, that modern scientists have demonstrated the profound influence physical exercise can exert not just on overall physical health, but on mental functioning, a sense of psychological well-being—even that essential CSW characteristic, creativity.

We all know about endorphins, those powerful bliss molecules that flood the body after a tough workout. But did you know exercise can also make you smart? In 2004, the California Department of Education published a study demonstrating a strong positive correlation between physical fitness and standardized test scores in more than 1 million 5th-, 7th- and 9th-graders. The researchers found most dramatically that the average academic performance in standardized English-language arts tests (including the SATs) was almost 20 percent higher for students who exceeded fitness targets that included aerobic capacity, abdominal strength, upper-body strength and flexibility. A smaller study in 2007 replicated the findings and demonstrated they were even more pronounced in math.

That jibes with what others have found since. In 2007, Icelandic researchers demonstrated that combined body mass index and physical activity might

explain up to 24 percent of the variance in the academic achievement of the students it surveyed. (The research examining whether requiring physical education might improve cognitive and academic outcomes is less tantalizing—suggesting that students need intense and long workouts to really make a difference).

A correlation between test scores and fitness tests, of course, doesn’t necessarily prove that fitness is the factor that caused improved academic ability. Maybe those participating are simply more motivated all around.

But a number of other studies also have demonstrated a strong connection between physical fitness and superior cognitive performance, which makes the suggestion harder to dismiss. The brains of the physically fit, researchers have shown time and time again, are quicker, clearer and more efficient.

In 2006, researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana and colleagues in the Netherlands, for instance, tested the ability of individuals between the ages of 15 and 71 to filter out distracting information and focus on a task that required them to quickly answer questions about different patterns of arrows displayed on a computer screen. Across all ages, those who were physically fit were able to respond far quicker than their schlubby co-volunteers.

feature: sound body, sound mind • 43

Other studies have found similar correlations in “executive control” functions—the ability to rapidly shift back and forth between different ideas. And, consistently, they have found links between exercise and superior performance on tests of learning and memory.

Recent studies on lab animals provide what many believe may be the explanation. For decades, scientific dogma held that each of us is born with a finite number of brain cells and that once we mature, they can never be replaced. In fact, in recent years, neuroscientists have demonstrated the opposite. The hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped, neural structure that houses the memory and spatial-processing areas of the brain, remains a center for new brain cell production, called “neurogenesis,” throughout our lifetimes. Our behavior, however, can influence cellular production levels.

In the 1990s, neuroscientists demonstrated that rodents placed in cages designed to provide an “enriched” environment seemed to generate more new brain cells than their peers placed in stark, empty cages devoid of social, visual and physical stimulation.

These extra brain cells were associated with a better ability to remember and maneuver through a maze.

Further testing revealed that it was the presence of exercise wheels in the cages—and the voluntary running on those wheels—that had the most profound effect on cell proliferation and their survival in the hippocampus.

Aerobic activity, it seems, causes the brain to release a potent concoction of chemicals that stimulate growth in the areas of the brain associated with memory and learning.

“We know that exercise stimulates what we call neurogenesis or the birth of brand-new brain cells in the hippocampus.”

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If that’s not enough to convince you to hit the trails, how about this: Exercise may even promote creativity. In videos and talks that seem especially relevant to CSW with its proud tradition of the arts, Wendy Suzuki, a Professor of Neural Science and Psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University and the author of Healthy Brain, Healthy Life, suggests that in addition to memory, the hippocampus also plays a key role in imagination.

Patients with damage to this structure, she notes, aren’t just amnesiac, they also demonstrated deficits in the ability to concoct a future scenario on a tropical beach.

“We know that exercise stimulates what we call neurogenesis or the birth of brand-new brain cells in the hippocampus,” she says. “But because of those brand new brain cells in my hippocampus I’m also enhancing my imagination.”

These experiments are just some of the reasons health experts increasingly emphasize the importance of exercise in helping young adults develop in body and mind—an emphasis that is part of the motivation behind a major new initiative recently launched by the CSW board of trustees. In the years ahead, they plan

to construct a 40,000-square-foot fitness and wellness center on the lower athletic fields—a project that the school has framed as entirely in keeping with the progressive approach CSW has embraced throughout its history.

It’s worth noting, however, that even those who still resist the temptation to move can still do their brain some good sitting still—an option the new fitness facility will offer through the inclusion of dedicated space for meditation sessions.

A growing body of neuroscience research has documented the positive effects meditation can have on body and mind. Most notably, with the help of the Dalai Lama, researchers at the University of Wisconsin recruited Tibetan monks willing to meditate while researchers monitored their brain activation patterns.

The neuroscientists discovered that when the monks meditated on the loving kindness prayer, a prayer designed to evoke compassion, the areas of the brain associated with a sense of well-being lit up like the Empire State Building on Christmas. Further, the level of activation appeared to be highly correlated with the number of years each monk had previously spent meditating.

coming of age: understanding generation z • 47

Coming of Age: Understanding Generation Z

By Kevin Bowen

As part of her Assembly address at the start of the new school year, Head of School Jane Moulding shared some statistics from Meet the Centennials, (a report created by the Futures Company), and shared the following remarks: “Between 2000 and 2010, the country’s Hispanic population grew four times the rate of the total population, according to the Census Bureau. The number of Americans self-identifying as mixed white-and-black biracial rose 134 percent. The number of Americans of mixed white and Asian decent grew by 87 percent.

In a time of such great change, how does school best prepare its students?

At CSW, we focus our core work around four major areas: ▶ G lobal Engagement ▶ S ocial Justice ▶ Learning and Teaching ▶ Health and Wellness We aim to equip our students not just for the world of their future but for the world that they live in today— a primary tenet of John Dewey, the father of progressive education is: School should be the world.

In the decade since the millennials were teenagers, these demographic shifts have been accompanied by profound shifts in attitudes around social issues.”

Let’s take a closer look at Generation Z and their world.

Generation Z: Who are they?

Demographically. Generation Z members may be loosely defined as those born into the developed world between the years 1995 and 2009. Now between the ages of six and twenty, they number over two billion.

They comprise the most highly educated generation the world has seen. Within the U.S. they are the most diverse generation ever: 55 percent are Caucasian; 24 percent Hispanic, 14 percent African American, 4 percent Asian, and 4 percent mixed race or other. They are the first generation to grow up from birth almost totally connected to the world of wireless networks and they come of age in a time when there are nearly as many mobile phone subscriptions as there are people on the planet (6.8 and 7 billion respectively).

Psychographically. Generation Z reveal themselves as boundary skippers and bridgers. A recent Northeastern University report would summarize their attitudes and beliefs this way: ▶ T hey believe in God, though they do not necessarily attend church services. ▶ T hey are preponderantly supporters of transgender rights, but not of affirmative action. ▶ T hey value honesty and integrity far above passion, or vision. Intelligence is last on their list of priorities. ▶ T hey feel the country has gotten itself far too involved in military interventions and they feel banks and big business have too much power. ▶ T hey seek greater connections between education and the work place, and are

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supporters of free medical care and free university education as well. ▶ T hey are definitely not enamored of politicians. ▶ They view the increased freedoms offered by virtual space as having been countered by the closing and infringement of freedoms in real space.

Cognitively/behaviorally. Businesses seeking to reach members of Generation Z speak of the “eight seconds” they have to grab a user’s attention, eight seconds being

the average time a Generation Z user takes to examine, discard, or process information before swiping or clicking and moving on.

In spite of watching an average of between 30,000 and 40,000 commercials a year, Generation Z members make their decisions, not as their predecessors have done, on the basis of traditional brand loyalty or in response to mass mailings and ads, but by looking “laterally, making their decisions on the basis of online reviews and on the word of their peers.”

Educators taking on the challenge of

communicating with this new generation observe in what some have criticized as a decreased attention span, the emergence of a very different set of new cognitive processing skills, skills that are less vertically structured and less dependent on memory.

Generation Z members have proved not to be traditional learners. Given the state of the world around them, it might be understandable if they are less receptive to arguments about the great traditions, but more than this, they have shown themselves to process information

The Gryphon in Time

By Jana F. Brown

It’s not hard to imagine why the gryphon (a.k.a. “griffin”) was conjured in medieval times. What’s not to like about a four-footed creature that is as proud, revered, and majestic as the lion, fused with the inspiring wingspan, beauty, and power of an eagle?

The legendary creature comprises the body, tail and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and an eagle’s talons as its front feet. The combination inspires strength and confidence, and links the natural to the supernatural worlds where anything is possible. It was a symbol of divine power

and a guardian of the divine.

The gryphon is genetic selection at its best. Because the lion was traditionally considered king of the beasts and the eagle the king of birds, the gryphon was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. It was also thought of as the king of all creatures. Gryphons are known for guarding treasure and priceless possessions.

Adrienne Mayor, a classical folklorist, proposes that the creature was an ancient misconception derived from the fossilized remains of the Protoceratops found in

gold mines in the Altai mountains of Scythia, in present-day southeastern Kazakhstan, or in Mongolia. As these bones, especially the skull, which has a bird-like beak, were exposed on the desert floor, ancient observers may have interpreted them as proof that such a hybrid creature once lived in the desert.

While gryphons are most common in the art and mythology of Ancient Greece, there is evidence of representations in ancient Persia and ancient Egypt dating back to as early as the 4th millennium B.C. On the island of Crete archaeologists have uncovered depictions of

coming of age: understanding generation z • 49

much like their devices do, not through hierarchical structuring, but through horizontal connection and association.

Using an analogy from linguistics, one might say they associate by metonymy instead of metaphor, making the leap from part to whole, while skipping the bridging connection. Not surprising then is their impatience or “carelessness” with what many consider basic elements of spelling, mathematics, and grammar, and some might argue they have created a whole new grammar language in “texting.”

gryphons in frescoes on the walls of the ‘Throne Room’ of the Bronze Age Palace of Knossos dating back to the 15th century B.C. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that gryphons mated for life and when one partner died, the other would live the rest of his/her life without seeking another partner. This is perhaps due to the fact that there weren’t many around. Some claim that the gryphon was used by the church as a symbol against re-marriage. It is unclear, however, whether this was the actual belief at that time, or just a modern interpretation.

The gryphon has been part of human culture for a very long time and persists today, as seen in various school emblems, mascots, and even popular literature. CSW is one of many schools and universities who have chosen to merge the gryphon’s image with institutional identity.

“It wasn’t until I approached graduation that I yearned for a CSW hoodie with the school’s regal mascot emblazoned on the chest,” says Eric Ginsburg ’06, now an associate editor for the Triad City Beat in North Carolina. “It provided a sense of belonging and an identity to project outwards. Ten years later, CSW still holds a magical aura, somewhere between a learning utopia and Neverland. A mythical symbol is fitting for a magical school.”

Following a longstanding mascot/logo

“ . . . they have shown themselves to process information much like their devices do, not through hierarchical structuring, but through horizontal connection and association.”

controversy that plagued its Virginia campus, the College of William & Mary chose the gryphon as its new mascot, replacing a polarizing Native American symbol. When the decision was announced in 2010, college president Taylor Reveley proclaimed that W&M now had a mascot that “unites strength with intelligence, recalls our royal origins, and speaks to our deep roots in American history.” High schools and colleges from Jamaica to Texas to Indiana to Vancouver to the U.K. (to Weston, MA) have similarly endorsed the eagle-accented lion. The gryphon also adorns the logos of inns, businesses and newspapers. It has enhanced the images of vehicles (Saab) and celebrities (Merv Griffin Enterprises).

According to an article in the fall 2003 issue of The Gryphon, the gryphon insignia was adopted by CSW as far back as 1931— when it was etched into the granite of the new classroom building on the Weston campus.

The article called it a “symbol of strength and valor” and an image of a “guardian and protector.” It was chosen to watch over the school and its students, providing an example for those in the CSW community to emulate.

The gryphon, the piece added, was also affiliated with knowledge and life, important considerations for a school where students are in their formative years of growth and learning.

“Some people think the gryphon doesn’t make sense because it isn’t a real being,” says Joanna Cabrera ’15, a freshman at Syracuse University, “but I think that’s what makes it even better. I loved having a mascot that wasn’t ‘real’ because it showed me that it’s okay to start with a dream.”

CSW’s hybrid mythical creature will endure many creative interpretations, and in CSW fashion, never go out of style or relevance.

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Perspective

Athletics the CSW Way

By Adam Piore ’88 a s i wo r k e d o n t h i s i s s u e ’ s

feature article, I couldn’t help but reflect on the irony of selecting me to write about this subject. When I was a student at CSW in the 1980s, exercise wasn’t exactly my priority. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that my arrival at the school in 1986 heralded the beginning of a period of physical inactivity and athletic infamy that I have not since come close to matching.

Back then I was a pretty typical

conforming nonconformist. It seemed to me then that you could be a deadhead, hippie-conforming nonconformist, or a punk rock, skater-conforming nonconformist. Or you could just dress in all black. At CSW, in fact, I developed— almost against my will through continued exposure—a lifelong affection for the Grateful Dead. I also developed, among other unhealthy habits, a cigarette addiction. Sadly, this habit only added

to my aversion to voluntarily running, chasing after balls and generally exerting myself on the athletic fields. It’s true that my friends and I often took walks into the woods between classes and after school. But it was usually so the teachers couldn’t see what we were doing— certainly not because any of us had read scientific studies highlighting the links between exercise and superior mental functioning. continued ▶

opposite page Talking about facility and program needs is nothing new at CSW. As this article from 1966 Alumni News shows, it’s been a perennial discussion.

Each decade has seen challenges and changes and has put forth what it could as solutions and ways of addressing them. We are continuing that tradition today and hope to implement new solutions to the needs that were identified in the past.

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My memories of baseball and soccer are thus filled with spectacular tumbles, overthrown baseballs and sound shellackings by teams from Beaver Country Day, Milton Academy and other prep schools with people who seemed to care much more than we did.

My most vivid memory is of snagging a baseball at shortstop, throwing it to the first baseman, and watching it fly, to my horror, right past his outstretched glove to hit him in the face.

So it was with some surprise that I learned recently that my beloved alma mater has ambitious plans to construct a 40,000square-foot $12 million health and fitness center on the lower athletic fields that will boast two basketball courts, an indoor track, and bleachers spacious enough to hold the entire student body without blocking the game.

Sure, I could understand the decision

by CSW’s board of trustees to equip this new facility with an airy two-story atrium, a space for faculty and student art installations, and a lounge where boarders might hang out. And I knew about the benefits of exercise on the body, mind and soul. But was it realistic to expect a CSW student body to use an indoor track and two basketball courts?

It turns out, things in Cambieland have changed quite a bit since my slothful attendance in the 1980s—or at least the way I remember it. CSW still prides itself on its progressive identity. It remains heavy on the arts, embraces students who value their own individuality and even has a new “social justice” graduation requirement. But playing on a CSW sports team in modern times is apparently not a path to guaranteed infamy. (Perhaps it never was. Maybe I just had bad luck.) Since 2005, the boys’ varsity basketball team has been to the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council league quarterfinals six times—they even won a championship in 2009. In 2010, both the boys’ soccer and girls’ varsity basketball teams also won championships; the men’s baseball team won in 2011. I guess it’s less surprising that CSW’s Ultimate Frisbee team has won both of the last two years. But I almost fainted when I learned that a member of the class of 2014 is apparently a member of a Division 1

“It was because CSW had a mission to help students try new things so that they would be capable of embracing what appeals to them as individuals.”

—Adam Piore ’88

college program. Kristoffer Blaney ’15, is now a freshman at Ohio State University on a full scholarship as a member of their shooting team. (He anticipates making it to the Olympics.) Though on further reflection, I do recall that one of my classmates was trying for the Olympics as a fencer.

In light of all this, I began to wonder if my memory had failed me. Could things really have changed that much? Maybe we

won lots of games and I just forgot, so I asked a bunch of my classmates on Facebook.

I did receive some general confirmation of athletic field infamy, or at least prideful recollections of cool apathy. But some of the memories offered forth were surprisingly nostalgic. Dave Scott ’88 recalled Ultimate Frisbee as a joyful time “of wearing no shirt and flowery ill-advised pants and running up and down the field like a gazelle.” Matt

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Kasvinsky ’88, noted that his experience playing on that not-so-great CSW baseball team gave him “the courage” to try running on his own—even to sign up for the Boston Marathon in his senior year. Not only did he finish, eventually he walked onto University of Utah’s Division 1 cross country team, earned a full scholarship and “changed my life.”

“I do believe I owe some of that to CSW giving me the space of opportunity to approach sports in a noncompetitive and supportive way,” he wrote.

In fact, on closer inspection maybe things haven’t changed so much after all.

Today the attitude towards exercise, I’m told, is still what one might call “progressive.”

Back then, if memory serves, some athletics were required (though you could get a pass sometimes if you did dance or theater instead). It wasn’t because anybody expected or even cared if we won the games.

It was because CSW had a mission to help students try new things so they would be capable of embracing what appeals to them as individuals. The school always insisted along the way, in fact, that winning and losing were largely beside the point.

I’m told this remains true at the school today. The point of the new athletic facility, in fact, is not so much to provide a grander stage for future feats of athletic glory. It is to provide a space that promotes health and wellness. In true CSW fashion, equal

importance and space will be provided for meditation, yoga and dance in the building itself.

What appears to have changed isn’t CSW, but the attitude of the students themselves. It seemed hard for me to imagine support at CSW for a sparkling new athletic facility. To me as a CSW student, at least, the idea would have sounded ludicrous—as did the current plans when I first learned of them. But I’m told those plans are widely embraced and looked upon with anticipation by today’s students. All of which makes me wonder just how good those teams I was once on might have been— and just how different my own attitude about physical activity might have been—if we had made the connection then that you can care for your mind and your body in conforming nonconforming ways.

about the author Adam Piore ’88 is a former Newsweek editor and correspondent. He is a currently contributing editor at Discover and Popular Science magazines.

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Then &

& Now

then & now • 55

leaving a legacy:

a view from the inside

“I chose CSW as a beneficiary because I wanted to support

their incredible approach to education. The Mod System offers enormous breadth and versatility in courses to choose from— and inspires a love of learning.

Jean Miles ’81

It feels good to carry on the tradition.”

Join Jean and many others. Learn more about how to leave your legacy at CSW. The Patience Lauriat Society is an honorary association of individuals who have made planned gifts or provisions in their bequests to The Cambridge School of Weston. The society is named after Patience Lauriat ’46, who left a portion of her estate to CSW. Her gift to the school was her way of acknowledging what the school had taught her and had helped her accomplish, and she was the first to honor the school in this way.

To learn more about becoming a member and to find out how planned giving can benefit you and The Cambridge School of Weston, please contact: Rebecca Schultzberg Director of Development rschultzberg@csw.org | 781.642.8611 www.csw.org/giving

my five • 57

ayako tanaka

1 2 3 4 5

English teacher

Senior Associate Director of College Counseling

will weidman

malik kuziwa ’17

Do you have a favorite CSW moment or a fond CSW memory?

There are so many . . . but I do love seeing the faces of students when they discover what it feels like to touch freshly made mochi. (Yes, fellow Japanese cooking class chefs—you know what I’m talkin’ about!)

Oh, there are so many favorites, but I have to go with the Rock/Pop Ensemble’s Stevie Wonder Tribute Concert (circa 2012), featuring our own lovely trio of super-divas: Diana Demuth ’12, Maggie Whitlock ’13, and Ella Williams ’14. They really ‘rocked it’ that night.

Our open mics. Recently, I premiered the first song I ever wrote! It’s great to perform in a super non-judgmental space.

All Boarders Weekend my freshman year. I had just arrived and everything was so brand new. I made lots of new friends—people who I have great friendships with now.

Who are your favorite writers?

Toyosuke Tanaka (my grandpa!), author of my great-grandmother’s biography; various authors who wrote Kaidan (Japanese/horror ghost stories); Lady Murasaki, author of The Tale of Genji Marsalis.

Billy Collins (Poet Laureate); Patricia Highsmith (Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley); Bill Bryson (Notes from a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods); Farley Mowat (Never Cry Wolf, The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float).

Kendrick Lamar, a rapper from Compton; his music is a constant source of inspiration and his writing style is very poetic and socially conscious. I love the way his music brings people together.

Sarah Dessen, Veronica Roth and Suzanne Collins.

I love books that I can relate to. These writers are modern and relatable and funny. All three authors write so descriptively, which I love.

If you were to die, and come back as a person or thing, what would it be?

Susuwatari, the house spirits in My Neighbor Totoro.

Johnny Depp, of course.

A set of speakers! In some ways I think I already am, but I’d love to be a source of music and good vibes.

I would want to be a person.

It doesn’t have to be a specific person, I would just want to come back and be a better person than I was before in my past life.

Another chance to be wiser, kinder, more influential, and not make the same mistakes twice.

Describe a new invention that you think is needed.

A “smart” cloth that can instantly wipe off that nuisance: evidence of orange cheesy snacks (i.e., Cheetos).

“Teleporter” a la Star Trek’s Enterprise—“Beam me up, Scotty!”

A machine that could synthesize sunlight.

Everybody could benefit from more sunlight, from urban gardeners who grow vegetables in cramped agricultural environments to the CSW students trying to make it through a cold New England winter!

I think about that often; having the opportunity to go and see someone whenever, wherever, at any time of any given day. It would make seeing loved ones so much easier.

What is your current state of mind?

Fall makes me feel sugasugashii (crisp and refreshed).

Focused, but a bit frazzled—it’s ‘high season’ in the college counseling office, after all.

I’m excited for the future!

This year some amazing students and I created a mixed-heritage affinity group. I’m happy that I’m at a school with so many chances to benefit the entire community.

brichelle pena ’18

Wistful. I wish that I could go back in time—not because I’m regretful but to feel some things twice.

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Reunion 2015

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Class Notes

Schusch Glauner ’74 and Jana Smith Kaplan ’74

1940s

Richard (Ham) Hamilton ’41 recently sent a correction for The Gryphon: Class Notes 1940s: “Mike and I roomed together at Bard College after transferring from Cornell and Chicago for a year or so in the Army and we roomed together in medical school. An apartment in New York City with sundry people and creatures.” The original class note said rowed instead of roomed.

Robert Peirce ’42 writes: “You have asked for news, but I’m not sure that anything in my recent life really rises to that standard. I continue to spend most of my time running

around in circles, but as I advance in age my pace is slower and slower. (In fact, now I walk with a cane.) About the only thing of possible interest within the past year is that, thanks to an American friend who lives in Nepal, I celebrated my 90th birthday there at a party attended by, among others, some 100 children. As each one came up, hugged me and awarded me a ceremonial scarf, I found myself asking myself, what have I done to deserve this? The answer, of course, was obvious—I had gotten old.”

Robert Peirce ’42 writes: “My sister, Mary Peirce ’42, will probably not respond to your

request for news. So I will tell you that, with short-term memory problems, she is now living in a care place in San Francisco—and is very happy (as she keeps pointing out, she doesn’t have to worry about a thing). Her long-term memory is sharp and we spend much of our frequent phone conversations talking about the past—including The Cambridge School of Weston, of which she has happy memories.

Larry Nathanson ’46 writes: “The ‘Irregulars’ is a book-reading group that for many years (since 1994) has been a virtual CSW alumni association. Current CSW members of the group include Sam B. Warner ’45 (clerk and

class notes • 61

founder), Serge Karpovich ’46, myself and Phil De Normandie ’67. We meet once a month (and incidentally, are all also Harvard College alumni). The group carries on the CSW tradition of free discussion and a general interest in all things cultural, political and scientific, etc.”

1950s

Richard (Rick) Richards ’52 writes: “At 81 and being told two different times during visits to the hospital that I had 2–3 days to live (that was last year!) and that probably something is bound to happen someday . . . It is amazing how often I think of CSW. The first term was undeniably the best I had ever experienced, but the second could have been a whole lot better. On to Colorado College, University of New Mexico. Two years teaching in Washington, five years teaching in Denver, picked up a doctorate, spent 17 years at Colorado State University, seven years in Oregon as geriatric caretaker for my parents until they passed, back to Colorado where I found nobody wanted a full professor without a lot of grant money when two new PhDs could be hired for what they would have to pay me. I taught a few years as an instructor at a community college. I proceeded to become an Industrial Hygienist and returned to Gunnison (where I had taught for the 17 years mentioned above) and specialized in indoor air pollution (mostly mold). Construction inspection, land assessment inspection, wetland delineation, drug assistance with law enforcement groups and house inspection for buyers and sellers.

Concurrently, I was on the staff of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory from 1960– 1982 serving as Executive Director some of the years. I think I mostly enjoyed the land assessment and wetland delineation, for they kept me out doors! I began paying for my active life. (I climbed mountains in Colorado and the Pacific Northwest when I could find time.) Osteoarthritis got the best of me.

Today I have three artificial joints, peripheral neuropathy, and tend to throw clots out of my legs upward. You can imagine the adjustment problems I face—the out-of-doors is out of the question. The joy of my life has been the 47 years I spent in Colorado, Texas and Oregon researching the carnivore on whom I based my dissertation: Wow! Can you believe that I

finally made something of my life? Darned if I’m not the WORLD AUTHORITY for Bassariscus astutus! You may bow now. For those of you who missed Hans’ biology classes, the rascal has 21 regional common names. If you have ever heard of it (doubtful) it is often called the ringtail, ringtailed cat. (There are at least three mammals in the world called ringtails and it is not a cat.) I use the original common name (1879) bassarisc. I have a picture of me, somewhat younger, holding the first one in my heavily gloved hands entitled, “Love at first bite!” I am in the process of writing my final scientific paper: Bassariscus astutus: 47 years of research: New and corrected information about distribution, ecology, classification and water metabolism in North America. Wish me luck that I live long enough to see it in print!

The final irony of it all is that I taught geriatrics and gerontology and now when I have a semi-alive person for a model, it’s too late to teach! Bummer.”

Robert (Bob) Frigoletto ’54 writes: “I’m still alive and kicking and would love to talk to you! And Jane, love your leading thoughts.”

1960s

Marc Haefele ’61 writes: “This year I will celebrate my second wedding anniversary, at age 73.”

Becky Sakellariou ’62 writes: “I have three wonderful grandchildren, four books of poetry, and still living part-time in great New Hampshire—what could be better? Visit my site at BeckySakellariou.com.”

The Hereditary Disease Foundation, based at New York Presbyterian Hospital, has appointed Jonathan Guest ’69 as its Chief Executive Officer and Vice President, Legal Affairs. HDF promotes scientific research in neurodegenerative diseases and discovered the biomarker and genetic cause of Huntington’s disease. Jonathan is also adjunct professor at Boston University School of Law.

1970s

Jean Lindquist ’70 writes: “Both of my children have successfully completed college and are looking forward to a new life of

leisure . . . Back in 1998 Jeanne founded a land conservation organization and this spring we received national recognition for the quality of work—one of only 25 all-volunteer trusts to do so. Also, we are healthy and happy. All exciting news.”

Catherine Moore Pomeroy ’71 writes: “I recently retired as a special education consultant and now find myself involved with the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, reviewing grant requests for programs that help women/girls become self sustainable. I’m still gardening, traveling and busy with family.”

William (Bill) Waldron ’72 is chair of the Religion Department at Middlebury College specializing in Southeast Asia Buddhist Studies.

Jana Smith Kaplan ’74 writes: “I spent 2 ½ wonderful weeks visiting with Schusch Glauner ’74 and his family in Germany and in the United Kingdom. It was great to return to Alpirsbach, with such fond memories of my visits there during my gap year living in Paris as an au pair in the position vacated by Nina Musinsky ’73. I had to beg Mr. St. John to give me graduation credits in advance so I could leave CSW in March 1974 (the month Nina was returning to the States) to accept the open au pair job. I missed my CSW graduation, remaining in Paris until the following year (when I returned to start college), seeing Schusch on his visits there and traveling to his hometown during my vacances. In the UK just a couple of weeks ago, Gebke (mother of Albert Glauner ’16, recent CSW student and nephew to Schusch, son of Frieder ’76) joined us for several days for a family gathering. Schusch’s sister Katrin and her husband and children live in a lovely suburb near London. It’s reassuring that a friendship begun 42 years ago with Schusch can feel as comfortable and be as much fun as our days together at CSW.” Mary Waldron ’76 writes she still loves designing and constructing costumes for Ballet Chelsea in Michigan.

Dave Iler ’77 writes: “These days I work as a VP at a hedge fund in Albany, NY. I was reminiscing over old times with a coworker.

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Somehow we found that a good friend and tennis partner of mine from CSW had been one of his better friends at Harvard.

Small world. I was in town dropping a child off at college and wandered through CSW for the first time in many years. Lots of good memories.”

We Want to Hear from You!

This issue includes notes submitted from May 2015 to October 2015. Everyone is invited to submit news to the alumni office. Please send your news (including photos) via email to: alum@csw.org.

1980s

Michael Stuttman ’81 writes: “My new film, Jim Vagabond #7: Stuff Your Eyes, is an official selection of the 2015 Coney Island Film Festival in September 2015.”

Ian Angus Kerr ’81 writes: “I am a special education teacher in NYC. I have been doing it since 1989. I have a B.A. and M.A. in history from NYU and an M.A. in special ed from Columbia. My dissertation was in historical archaeology from the University of Leicester in England. I am married with no children. My wife’s name is Tomoko. She is now a fashion designer for Coach. We live in Long Island City on the East River.”

Niho Kozuru ’86 and Jeff Hayes ’86 recently came to campus to share a traditional Japanese tea ceremony for Head of School Jane Moulding and members of the development team. Niho and Jeff shared their knowledge of Japan and other Japanese traditions. Niho recently had artwork installed at Chesterwood in Stockbridge, MA, with the Boston Sculptors Gallery; and displayed at the Museum of Art University of Maine in Bangor, ME. With an idea of taking classic American confectionary and reimagining it as something elevated, Jonathan Jackson Poe ’89 developed PINKLETON’S Curious Caramel Corn in Portland. He has now been in business for just over two years. Demand has been really high, and the response has been phenomenal. “I have stores from Boston and Brooklyn to Santa Fe and Salt Lake City . . . and of course, Portland! I just bought a building to manufacture out of . . . terrifying, and thrilling. A really big step for me. We are building a candy kitchen! I feel a bit like Willy Wonka. This will allow me to expand into other classic confectionary and expand my reach . . . I never imagined

that this is where I would be in two years.

I couldn’t be happier!”

2000s

Michael Dove ’01 is living in Zvolen, Slovakia and teaches at a local university in Banska Bystrica.

Kabren Levinson ’08 is currently a Marketing Operations Specialist at FinMason, Inc., a financial tech startup devoted to helping people understand their 401(K) portfolios.

Previously, Kabren was a Technologist at Chitika, an online advertising and data analytics firm where he managed the first corporate website redesign in ten years, designed and led an internal innovation and Research and Development program, and served as a User Experience Architect for Chitika’s small business mobile marketing platform, Cidewalk. Kabren graduated from Bard College in 2012 with a B.A. in philosophy.

Throughout 2013 and 2014, Kabren was also the Chief Technology Officer and Project Consultant for The Vienna Project, a socialaction memorial project situated for one year on the streets of Vienna, Austria. It was the first public art memorial of its kind in Europe and the first public naming memorial in Vienna to symbolically represent, in a differentiated format, the multiple groups of persecuted victims and dissidents of National Socialism, on record within a given country, who were murdered between 1938–1945. Most recently, Kabren is the co-founder of a new DJ/artist duo called ÖPYN. MYND, as DJ Kaybee, with fellow DJ and producer JPRiZM. ÖPYN. MYND

made a big splash with their first gig on May 6, 2015, at the Ink Block Boston Launch Party, getINKed, earning them a mention in the Boston Herald.

Sophie Weisskoff ’10 writes: “I graduated CSW in 2010 and Oberlin in 2014. I founded the Gryphtones as my Capstone project. I’m writing because in August I’m directing an original one-act called Vanishing Point for the NY Fringe Festival, and I was wondering about ways to alert CSW alumni (particularly those based in NY) en masse about the play so that other CSW folk can help support us in whatever way they are able!”

Diana Demuth ’12 visited campus in May 2015 for an impromptu concert at Assembly.

Sasha Letovsky ’11 graduated cum laude with departmental honors and a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Skidmore College in spring 2015, and says she is “thankful to CSW for getting me here!”

in memoriam • 63

In Memoriam Priscilla (Tilly) Washburn Shaw ’48 September 25, 1930–July 21, 2015 is iconic here at CSW. Tilly’s mother, Hildegarde Washburn, joined the school in 1937 and stayed for 35 years as a beloved teacher of French, advisor to the Co-op store and college counselor. Many of our graduates speak of Hildegarde, and indeed, we hope to name part of our new health and fitness center after her at the anonymous request of a graduate.”

—jane moulding, head of school

“I had the privilege of meeting Tilly several times, here at CSW when she returned to Reunion on campus several years ago and in California. She was clearly a wonderful teacher and a great appreciator of the arts.

She grew up at CSW and had wonderful stories to tell about what the institution and our landscape meant to her. She understood progressive, student-centered education deeply. The Washburn family

Below is an excerpt from the formal obituary shared by University of California, Santa Cruz: Priscilla (Tilly) Washburn Shaw, born in Massachusetts, September 25, 1930, died peacefully at her home in Santa Cruz, CA surrounded by her friends on July 21, 2015.

A literary scholar, poet, and UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) faculty member in literature from 1966 to 1993, her mother was an esteemed teacher of French language at The Cambridge School of Weston, and Tilly’s three years of high school there were extremely happy and

stimulating. This was her springboard to Swarthmore College and then to Yale where her graduate work in comparative literature led her to UCSC. An astute and generous critic and editor, Tilly also became a serious poet and devoted supporter of poets and poetry.

She authored two collections of poems, Swimming Closer to Shore (2004) and the forthcoming Hanging Out in the Ordinary, both published by Hummingbird Press. In addition to her published work on Valery, Yeats, and Rilke, she developed a specialist interest in Conrad and Lawrence in the ’70s and Levertov, Plath, Sexton, and especially Adrienne Rich in the ’80s.

Tilly was a passionate ocean swimmer—in the Atlantic, where she summered in a little cabin in the woods her father had built on the coast of Massachusetts; in the Caribbean, where she went every January with her old friend Ruth Perry; and in the Pacific near the wharf in Santa Cruz. In retirement she was an intrepid traveler.

In Memoriam: Albert Bratt ’41 Stephanie Head ’36 Penelope (Penny) Strand ’51 Victor Vitlin ’68 correction In the fall 2014 issue, the name Elizabeth “Mopsy” Culbertson ’74 was included in the memoriam list inaccurately; it was her husband who passed away. We apologize for the error.

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Gryphon Fall 2015

Save the Dates December 6, 2015 Boston Area Gathering Sunday, December 6, 2015 Liberty Hotel 214 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114 12 p.m. – 2 p.m.

January 26, 2016 Washington, DC Area Gathering Tuesday, January 26, 2016 National Press Club 529 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20045

February 21, 2016 Los Angeles Area Gathering More details coming soon.

February 25, 2016 San Francisco Area Gathering More details coming soon.

Reunion: June 17 & 18, 2016

CSW ALUMNI!

Save the Date

REUNION ’16

June 18, 2016 CSW Reunion is a very special time to reconnect with classmates and make new connections. It is also a chance to relive your days at school, visit your old classrooms and dorm rooms. Our reunions also provide opportunities for networking and meeting faculty (current and past).

Milestone Years

This year, we are celebrating milestone years ending in 1 and 6, with special shout-outs to CSW’s 50th Reunion for the Class of 1966, and the 25th Reunion for the Class of 1991.

How you can help CSW

For more information on how to get involved Please contact: alum@csw.org phone: 781.642.8645

In order to make Reunion a success, we need YOU, Class Agents and Reunion Organizers, to help foster CSW affinity, build class pride, contribute to your Annual Class Gift, and increase attendance and participation in both giving and Reunion!

We are here for you to help you plan a memorable event at Reunion. We provide: Class lists and call lists Venue space on campus ▶ Communication materials and email blasts ▶ Help reconnecting you to lost classmates, past faculty, and friends ▶ ▶

Show your pride with items like jackets, sweatshirts, t-shirts, shorts, hats, mugs, tote bags, umbrellas and more!

All CSW items can be purchased online from our home page (Support CSW tab).

Stay in touch with us!

Join interesting conversations and get the latest information, photos and videos of what’s going on at CSW. Follow Us @CambridgeSchool

Watch What Happens @WeAreCSW Join the Conversation @WeAreCSW & @CSWJane

Capture the Moment @wearecsw

Search for under Groups The Cambridge School of Weston

66 • The

Gryphon Fall 2015

Alumni Reflections

An Ongoing Passion To Do More Eduardo Tugendhat ’72 a s i l o o k b a c k o n m y l i f e j o u r n e y,

I can trace its long and twisting road back to formative experiences during my CSW years (1968–1972). Taking classes with teachers like Roland Gibson, Gary Jenkins, Hans Biermann and Trumbull Smith led me to develop a passionate interest in the social, environmental, economic and political factors that shape history and current events—whether going on strike during the anti-war movement to march on the Boston Common and Washington, D.C., or hitchhiking from Berea, Kentucky to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and being shocked by the reality of racial and social divisions in the rural south to preparing to co-teach a class in Latin America by reading stacks of books to try to understand the deeply troubling origins of impoverished societies with a tiny elite.

Coming out of this educational environment, I chose international economic development as the career that would allow me to make a difference. At first I worked as a consultant, traveling to different countries to analyze problems and recommend solutions. Unfortunately, these reports tended to get filed away and collect dust for lack of political will to implement reforms or because of weak institutional capacity to carry them out.

After this experience, two colleagues and I set up CARANA Corporation with the goal of implementing economic development projects with measurable outcomes. We define success as new types of behaviors and relationships that allow marginalized people to realize their full potential in more inclusive systems. In the more than 30 years since CARANA was founded, we have

implemented projects in over 100 countries, generating productive jobs and a pathway out of poverty for hundreds of thousands of people.

I am particularly enthusiastic about our practical approaches to two critical issues: sustainable agriculture and bridging the skills gap. For U.S. consumers, the effects of sustainable agriculture, as it applies to farm wages, relates to products such as chocolate, coffee and cashews. These products come from tropical countries in which millions of farm households live in extreme poverty (earning less than $1 per day). This problem is not solved by certifications such as Fair Trade, which may offer farmers a premium of 5–10 percent at best. Our approach seeks to increase farm income by a factor of three to five times. We do this by facilitating direct links between groups of farmers and food companies, enabling them to invest together with sources of financing to introduce new technologies and practices that improve yields, reduce water and fertilizer requirements and protect the environment.

Our role is to help build new relationships in which food companies can honestly offer environmentally and socially sustainable products and the producers get a fair return on their hard work and investment.

Addressing the skills gap also involves building new types of partnerships. When employers/industries complain that they are unable to find people with the right skills and competencies, we advise them to invest in the development of training and certification programs in partnership with the appropriate educational providers.

For example, in El Salvador we convinced

employers to support an intensive program for “at-risk youth” in gang-infested neighborhoods. Relying heavily on social media and peer networks to engage youth in the program, thousands of young people were helped with basic competencies that made them “employable” by companies who then provided more specialized training in-house. Another example involved a certification program for construction trades in Macedonia with on-the-job training that not only enhanced skills and employability, but also gave individuals a “credential” they could use in marketing their services.

Over forty years after CSW and I still have more questions than answers!

My commitment and determination is still as strong as it was during my teenage years, only today I have a sense of accomplishment, and an ongoing passion to do more.

Bringing about change is difficult, but possible. The journey continues.

“Bringing about change is difficult, but possible. The journey continues. ” —Eduardo Tugendhat

alumni reflections • 67

t o p l ef t a nd t o p ri g h t Helping farmers in Peru expand and improve agro-forestry farms with cocoa for high-end chocolate

b o t t o m l ef t Producing strawberries and vegetables in the West Bank for export to Europe b o t t o m ri g h t In Macedonia, farmers use drip irrigation to increase corn yield and improve dairy operations.

CSW Annual Fund

For more information or to make your Annual Fund gift, please contact our development office: 781.642.8645 development@csw.org www.csw.org/giving

Go all in.

When you make a gift to the CSW Annual Fund, you join the thousands of parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends who have invested in the heart and soul of The Cambridge School of Weston. Your generosity makes an impact—and it shows.

art by

Wenqi (Melanie) Li ’16

45 Georgian Road Weston, Massachusetts 02493

Parents: Has your CSW alum moved?

Update their address by contacting alum@csw.org Address service requested

photo by

J.R. Foster ’15